Rebel Wilson speaks out against ‘grubby behaviour’ of Australian newspaper that tried to ‘out’ her
Rebel Wilson says she faced a “lot of distress” because of the Sydney Morning Herald’s “grubby behaviour in trying to out [her] same-sex relationship”. (Getty)
Rebel Wilson faced a “lot of distress” because of the Sydney Morning Herald’s “grubby behaviour” after the publication tried to ‘out’ her.
The Australian Press Council condemned the newspaper on Saturday and found the Sydney Morning Herald’s actions were “likely to cause substantial offence and distress”.
The Pitch Perfect star announced her relationship with girlfriend Romana Agruma in June with the Sydney Morning Herald revealing it planned to run a story on Wilson’s relationship before she could address it on her terms, effectively ‘outing’ her to the public.
The Australian Press Council said the publication “failed to take reasonable steps to comply with the council’s standards of practice concerning privacy and avoidance of harm”. It noted Wilson’s relationship was a “deeply personal matter” and that the publication “intruded on her reasonable expectations of privacy”.
Rebel Wilson posted an adorable photo of herself with Agruma on Instagram and shared her thoughts on the Sydney Morning Herald’s “grubby behaviour”, which she said still “pains” her today.
“Just seeing the news that the Australian Press Council has condemned the Sydney Morning Herald and their journalists for their recent grubby behaviour in trying to out my same-sex relationship,” Wilson wrote. “And while I didn’t personally ask for any action to be taken I am glad that this has been officially recorded and recognised.”
She continued: “Their actions did cause Ramona and I a lot of distress and while we’ve remained classy, there are still pains from having to rush this news publicly which we are dealing with.”
Wilson added the couple are moving on and “focusing on all the amazing new things” in their lives now instead of living in the past.
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Sydney Morning Herald columnist Andrew Hornery wrote in the original piece, which has since been taken down, that the outlet gave Wilson just two days’ notice to comment on relationship with Agruma before it published the article.
Hornery said in the story it was a “big mistake” to warn Wilson ahead of publishing the article because she “gazumped” the story by coming out on her own terms.
His comments were met with immense backlash with many people voicing their disgust that the Sydney Morning Herald would out an individual before they were ready to share their truth publicly.
Hornery wrote in a later article that he didn’t seek to “out” the Senior Year star and felt ‘genuine regret’ for planning to run the story.
Rebel Wilson told The Australian in October that she was “forced” to come out publicly, despite her relationship never being kept a “secret” to begin with. She told the outlet that her relationship with Agruma was “something that [she] wasn’t hiding in any way”.
“It was just a hard few days, especially for my partner who’s not used to being in the public eye and not used to having to deal with stuff like that,” Wilson said. “It was probably more harmful for her in many respects.”
She added: “But to me, in 2022, love is love. I didn’t think it was that big of a deal and that we should kind of be forced to make an announcement about it. But that happened.”
